Urocyon
| Urocyon[1] | |
|---|---|
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| Gray Fox | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Subfamily: | Caninae |
| Genus: | Urocyon Baird, 1857 |
| Type species | |
| Canis virginianus Schreber, 1775 (= Canis cinereo argenteus Schreber, 1775) |
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| Species | |
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Urocyon cinereoargenteus |
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The genus Urocyon (from the Greek word for 'tailed dog'[2]) is a genus that contains two (or possibly three) living Western Hemisphere foxes in the family Canidae, the Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and the closely related Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis) which is a dwarf cousin of the Gray Fox;[1] as well as one fossil species, Urocyon progressus.[3]
Urocyon and the Raccoon Dog are the only canids able to climb trees. Urocyon is one of the oldest fox genera still in existence. A third species, apparently close to extinction or even already extinct, is (or was, until recently) found on the island of Cozumel, Mexico.[4] The Cozumel Fox, which has not been scientifically described to date, is a dwarf form like the Island Fox but a bit larger, being up to three-quarters the size of the Gray Fox.[5]
[edit] References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Urocyon |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Urocyon |
- ^ a b Wozencraft, W. Christopher (16 November 2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000840.
- ^ University of Arkansas-Monticello. Meanings of scientific names of wild and domesticated mammals of Arkansas: Urocyon.
- ^ Prevosti, F.J., & Rincóon, A.D. (2007). "A new fossil canid assemblage from the late Pleistocene of northern South America: the canids of the Inciarte asphalt pit (Zulia, Venezuela), fossil record and biogeography". J. Pal. 81 (5): 1053–1065. doi:10.1666/pleo05-143.1.
- ^ Cuarón, Alfredo D.; Martinez-Morales, Miguel Angel; McFadden, Katherine W.; Valenzuela, David; & Gompper, Matthew E. (2004). "The status of dwarf carnivores on Cozumel Island, Mexico". Biodiversity and Conservation (Springer Netherlands) 13 (2): 317–331. doi:10.1023/B:BIOC.0000006501.80472.cc. http://www.springerlink.com/content/p1254gx148681927/.
- ^ Gompper, M. E.; Petrites, A. E. & Lyman, R. L. (2006). "Cozumel Island fox (Urocyon sp.) dwarfism and possible divergence history based on subfossil bones". J. Zool. 270 (1): 72–77. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00119.x.
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